Another World

I went to the gym the other day and took advantage of a special deal that gets me a free one-off session with a personal trainer. We did various strength-training exercise and he listened to what I wanted to do regarding muscle-building. I won't be able to afford weekly sessions for another three months, but that would be something worth doing in the future, I think.

On the job front, the good news is that I passed a preliminary telephone interview. The bad news is that the job doesn't exist (yet).

I saw both Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises in the cinema the other day. I enjoyed them both, probably equally. Yeah, I know. One thing I was disappointed in with TDKR is that they included two key scenes from the movie in the trailer. I knew what would happen as soon as I saw the football pitch. Why would you do that?

And, of course, there was the Olympics Opening Ceremony. I'd been sceptical about it, and it didn't start off very well, with the camera meandering up the River Thames and disturbing twee little animals. But then it started for real and it was stunning and engaging from start to finish, celebrating things that really are unique and worthwhile about Britain. No, not the rain, that's just what we tell everyone else. :)

Unfortunately, Americans didn't get to see it because the media told them they wouldn't understand it without editing, ads, and a Michael Phelps interview inserted, which meant that indeed many of them didn't get it because it was edited, had ads added, and had a Michael Phelps interview inserted. The quote of the day seems to be: "Our programming is tailored for the U.S. audience. It’s a tribute to [producer] Danny Boyle that it required so little editing."

On Saturday, I got to see The Crüxshadows live in London! They were amazing! They sung one of my favourite songs ever, Winterborn, and I got to talk to Rogue and he said it was his favourite too. Maybe he says that to everyone, regardless of their favourite song, but he signed a photograph of the band and then hugged me. Definitely one of my favourite bands.

We got to hear Sleepless, which will be on their next album (As The Dark Against My Halo), which was awesome too.

Finally, since J and I were in London, we went to London Zoo. There are forty photographs behind the cut, divided into rough groups so you don't have to look at snakes and bugs if you don't want to.

( Regent's Park (4) and birds (3). )

( Lizards (7) and a tortoise (1). )

( A snake (1). )

( A giraffe (3) and some monkeys (2). )

( Butterflies (4). )

( A caterpillar (1) and a locust (1). )

( Pelicans (1), servals (2) and a llama (1). )

( Underwater worlds, mostly coral and clams (9). )

Links:

???: Cat Video Festival
Fashion: Cyborg Fashion Slideshow
Japan: US English Teacher Makes Video About Being Gay For His Japanese Students
Marvel: Logos for Upcoming Marvel Movies
Movies: Deus Ex Movie Planned?
Photography: LJ Photophile Photo of the Week Poll One of my friends (LJ: templeghosts) has a picture entered, so a vote would probably be appreciated. My main thought is not another sunset, please!

(Poll at Livejournal post.)

The Carnival last weekend was fantastic. We even saw a sheep show and duck-herding. The IKEA problem was quickly sorted out by ringing the delivery company -- No, they had no plans to deliver that day, weren't in the area and IKEA could never have instantly promised that they would without checking first. So we went to the carnival and got a our furniture the Friday after. I'll try to post some photos soon, but I've got a busy week coming up. An interview, a phone interview, and then I'm leading a Squeefest workshop.

Two days ago I saw Assemblage 23 at the O2 Academy in London. It reminded me of my favourite goth club on the outskirts of Kabukicho in Tokyo (URGA), so I felt at home. The only real differences were the high drink prices and the ban on smoking. Lose some, win some.

They played Document, Drive, and Last Mistake, which is a relatively new song off their June 2012 album. The final song mentioned was awesome, with rawer vocals than the recorded version. Unfortunately, the live versions online aren't that great.